Advantage West Midlands forced to scale back funding

Jul 21 2009 By Jonathan Walker

CREATIVE industries in the region were dealt a big blow today after Advantage West Midlands revealed a hit-list of projects which will see their funding trimmed.

AWM said it had been forced to cut spending for regeneration projects by £132 million, hitting a total of 65 projects.

Among the most high profile is the Black Country Living Museum.

The museum was hoping to build a 1930s’ High Street at its open-air site near Dudley Castle as part of its Old Birmingham Road project – the reconstruction of a block of four shops which formerly stood in Oldbury. The museum wants to return No.12 Birmingham Road to its former state when builders and decorators the Humphrey Brothers occupied the premises.

Black Country Living Museum Director Ian Walden said the lack of funding would give the museum a “serious headache”. A sum of £3 million was to be used to fund the next phase of the development.

In Birmingham, a business park designed to bring much-needed high technology medical industries to the city and a training centre to raise skills among 6,5000 staff at Birmingham airport will be hit.

The Government has reduced AWM’s budget by £48 million and the agency is also predicting revenue it receives from its own assets, such as land rented to tenants, will be £20 million lower than expected because of the recession.

On top of this, it has taken £64 million out of its budget for regeneration schemes and transferred the money to projects designed to help business, after it was told by Business Secretary Peter Mandelson to focus more on supporting industry. It means funding for regeneration projects during the 2008-11 period has been cut by £132 million in total.